Page 9 of Finding Mr. Write

He pulled up the number of his wildlife-rehab client and hit Call.

APRIL 29, FOURTEEN DAYS TO PUBLICATION

Chris: Remember how we talked about Z having a cat?

Daphne: I’m trying to forget.

Chris: LOL Okay, so I started thinking. I have this friend of a friend who owes me a favor and, well, one word. Cougar.

Daphne: What you do with your private time is your own business.

Chris: What? Oh. Cougar. Ha!

Chris: No, it isn’t that kind of cougar. Not that I have any problem with that—older just means more experience, right?

Daphne: Cell service flickering.

Chris: So this friend-of-a-friend runs a wildlife-rehab center on Van Isle, and they just got in a cougar cub, so I got some pics.

Daphne: Of the cub? Okay. I’m a sucker for baby wildlife. Send.

Chris: Done!

Daphne: Uh, this is a picture of you cuddling a cougar cub.

Chris: Yes! See? It’ll win the cat-lover demographic without tarnishing Z’s masculine rep.

Chris: Second pic incoming!

Daphne: So… looks like the cub ate your shirt.

Chris: Funny how that happened, huh?

Daphne: You are now shirtless, cuddling a cougar cub. Wait, is that blood?

Chris: Shit! Forgot to ’shop that out. Kitty had claws. Weird, huh?

Daphne: I think there’s someone at the door.

MAY 2, ELEVEN DAYS TO PUBLICATION

Daphne: WTF???!!!

Chris: Language, D. You’re a kid’s book writer, remember? Oh, sorry. I’m not supposed to say that. You’re a literary speculative-fiction novelist, whose book features a teenaged protagonist in a brutal but inspiring coming-of-age story.

Chris: That’s the line the publisher gave me.

Daphne: You asked for access to the Zane account so you could keep abreast of the publisher’s plans for my book while I took a weekend off. You promised you would never EVER respond to an email directed to Zane.

Chris: I didn’t respond to a new email. I noticed you left the cougar-cub pics out of the latest batch, so I passed them along. I was being helpful.

Daphne: You passed them photos I had decided against using, and then you responded to questions about those photos, which were used in a major online article about the book.

Chris: I was being helpful.

Daphne: Two days, Chris. I was gone for two days.

Daphne: Also, you said you rescued the cub from a grizzly.